Were The Presidential Daily Briefings As Inaccurate As The Talking Points?

On May 13, 2013, President Obama spoke about the attack on Americans in Benghazi, Libya that occurred on September 11, 2012. President Obama discussed the talking points that were used by U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice to tell the world that the cause of the attack was a spontaneous demonstration caused by an anti-Muslim video. President Obama stated: "Keep in mind, by the way, these so-called talking points that were prepared for Susan Rice five, six days after the event occurred pretty much matched the assessments that I was receiving at that time in my presidential daily briefing."

Congress needs to immediately obtain the presidential daily briefings, or PDBs, to which President Obama referred. Congress needs to know if the intelligence community created PDBs for President Obama that were as inaccurate as the final version of the talking points created by President Obama's State Department and White House national security staff, and used by Susan Rice. Congress also needs to know whether President Obama's description of the PDBs is accurate.

Allan J. Favish is an attorney in Los Angeles. His website is allanfavish.com. He has co-authored with James Fernald a book about what might happen if the government ran Disneyland entitled "Fireworks! If the Government Ran the Fairest Kingdom of Them All (A Very Unauthorized Fantasy).

On May 13, 2013, President Obama spoke about the attack on Americans in Benghazi, Libya that occurred on September 11, 2012. President Obama discussed the talking points that were used by U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice to tell the world that the cause of the attack was a spontaneous demonstration caused by an anti-Muslim video. President Obama stated: "Keep in mind, by the way, these so-called talking points that were prepared for Susan Rice five, six days after the event occurred pretty much matched the assessments that I was receiving at that time in my presidential daily briefing."

Congress needs to immediately obtain the presidential daily briefings, or PDBs, to which President Obama referred. Congress needs to know if the intelligence community created PDBs for President Obama that were as inaccurate as the final version of the talking points created by President Obama's State Department and White House national security staff, and used by Susan Rice. Congress also needs to know whether President Obama's description of the PDBs is accurate.

Allan J. Favish is an attorney in Los Angeles. His website is allanfavish.com. He has co-authored with James Fernald a book about what might happen if the government ran Disneyland entitled "Fireworks! If the Government Ran the Fairest Kingdom of Them All (A Very Unauthorized Fantasy).